Justice League Beyond Vol. 2 Issue 009
It's been a long few days for Akshay Adani as he negotiates with Solo Takashi to bid for the contract to replace Japan's ageing nuclear facilities with Zero Point Energy stations developed by Adani Energies. He finally feels that he's getting somewhere, although he's growing tired of some of Takashi's innuendo, suggesting knowledge of his secret identity when the negotiations end for the day. As Akshay, Gita and his team have dinner as the guests of Takashi Megacorp that evening (dealing with the curiously short attention span of one of Takashi's Angel Androids), he notices that he has messages on his Justice League communicator. Rather than risk being overheard here, he asks Gita to ready their "luggage" for departure tomorrow and says he's going for a walk. When he's safely ensconced in the flow of Tokyo commuters he stops and catches up on the events that the League have been dealing with for the past few days, with the conclusion that they are in Tokyo after Sexy Ruby Joker Girl. He returns to his hotel, dons his suit, and takes off from his penthouse suite in pursuit of the Wonder Wagon. This vehicle is flying through Tokyo's sky (with Animal Woman leaning over the side being sick) when The Flusher's suggestion to use social media in search of the car stolen by Sexy Ruby Joker Girl bears fruit and a Facebook message directs them to a Hanafuda card factory, where they are joined by Steel Shiva who is introduced to Lucas Messam. The Justice League suggest to the Super Young Team that they guard the perimeter to prevent any escape and to be relied up as backup while they go in. Inside, it's obvious that the factory is still in use, so The Flusher, Lucas and Zachary Zatara climb a gantry to gain a bird's eye view while Steel Shiva and Animal Woman go along the floor. Steel Shiva's enhanced senses detect a trail leading to a trapdoor near the middle of the factory floor which Animal Woman lifts only to be hit by a booby trap sending her stumbling back. Sexy Ruby Joker Girl emerges from the hole followed by some sort of shadow creature and activates a series of cameras around the floor, saying that this will be her masterpiece. Both The Flusher and Steel Shiva have the same idea, to try and subdue Joker Girl a bit by cutting off the oxygen of publicity and they knock out the cameras. But while they are busy doing that, Animal Woman gets a full blast of some sort of powder that sends her choking to the ground and Zachary is in a magical battle with the shadow creature. As the cameras go out, Sexy Ruby Joker Girl bemoans the lack of media to see her taboo-breaking sidekick and Animal Woman decides that enough is enough and calls in backup from the Super Young Team. Between them, they subdue their enemy but not before the shadow creature escapes, after a word from Joker Girl (and an unfortunate "Sumimasen" blast from Shy Crazy Lolita Canary that almost deafens Zachary). Zachary looks into the trapdoor from which Joker Girl had emerged and finding it apparently clear, he goes in to investigate; always looking for a story, Lucas follows. Inside they find Joker Girl's lair, including what appears to be a make-up studio. While poking in one corner, Lucas finds a guide to demon summoning, which he shows to Zachary. As he glances through it, it finds a reference to a shadow demon that matches what they fought and discovers that it is strengthened by fire and what appears to be radiation. Zachary relays this information to the rest of the group and Most Excellent Superbat reminds them that there are two nuclear power plants in Tokyo, either of which could be the target. They need to get stop it before it can engorge itself on the energy from the fuel rods. As Zachary can teleport himself, he goes to one of the plants and the Flusher teleports the rest of the League to the other, with the Super Young Team taking to the Wonder Wagon and waiting to find out which target to go to. It is Zachary who is (un)lucky, and he contacts the others to request backup - but they're too late, and a giant Hiroshima Shadow is walking away from the smouldering ruins of the plant. The Flusher teleports the Justice League to the scene and after a quick conference they decide to try water as the opposite of fire to quell the giant demon before them. Steel Shiva flies around the creature, just distracting it, while the Flusher concocts a plan with Shiny Happy Aquazon, who can control water. He opens a portal to the bottom of the Pacific ocean and she controls it, creating a mental lens that focuses the torrent like a firehose. Animal Woman hoists her up and flies up around the creature (something that takes some explaining to Ginny later as the pictures are broadcast around the world) and Lucas and Most Excellent Superbat join in with a fire truck. But this is all just a distraction. As soon as there is enough ambient water , Zachary completes a ritual spell he's been casting from the start of the fight, gathering the water and shaping it into a giant watery figure, with himself at its core. The giant water-form of Zachary squares up against Hiroshima Shadow but before either can do anything, everyone is surprised to see another giant figure striding on to the scene. A giant mecha robot creature stands alongside Zachary and bellows defiance against the shadow demon. The insignia on its chest and the references to blowing up "my nuclear power plant" give away the occupant of the robot: Doc Otaku, for once, not fighting against heroes but alongside them. Between the various watery attacks mounted against it, the demon wilts and eventually fades away. Doc Otaku gives the assembled superheroes a jaunty salute and strides away back into the Tokyo gloom. The next day, as they are preparing to leave for home, Akshay gets a message from Takashi Megacorp with a contract for Adani Energies. He smiles to himself as he forwards the message to his brother and thinks that last night's activities may have been all worth it in the end. The rest of the present League members take a more formal leave from the Super Young Team who have grown somewhat fond of them (Most Excellent Superbat even posting "Forget Elvis Or Muhammed Ali; I Just Spent The Day With The Justice League" to Twitterati) and to the Japanese media, who have also taken them to heart, particularly, for some reason, The Flusher. A few days later, he receives several offers of Saturday morning cartoon shows from and it's only quick intervention from Akshay that stops him selling all his rights away, and negotiates something more in his favour. Meanwhile, Superman Secundus has taken Lucas to Prague and introduced him to the Chief there to help him understand his condition and powers better. "Well, my boy," says the disembodied head, staring disconcertingly at him from its jar, "I'm sure this will be the beginning of a beautiful, or at least very unusual, friendship."